Irene
1088 – 1134 · Generation XXIX · Empress
Irene (AD 1088 – 1134). Empress. Married John around AD 1104. Born Piroska of Hungary; wife of John II. A daughter of King Ladislaus I of Hungary and Adelaide of Rheinfelden, she lost both parents in childhood and grew up at the court of her cousin King Coloman, who arranged her marriage to the heir John Komnenos to improve relations with Alexios I. Settling in Constantinople, she adopted Orthodoxy and the name Irene. Contemporary sources describe a long and harmonious marriage that produced eight children, among them the twins Alexios and Maria, born at Thessaloniki in 1106, and the future Manuel I. She kept largely out of government, though she received Hungarian envoys and at times mediated between the two realms. Her great work was the Pantokrator monastery in Constantinople, with its remarkably large hospital. She died unexpectedly in Bithynia in August 1134 while on campaign with John, was buried at the Pantokrator, and was canonised, most likely in 1166.
Place in the family
- Irene married John II Komnenos, a son of Alexios I Komnenos.
- The archive records 3 of her descendants, across 2 generations.
Partners
- Married John II Komnenos (1087 – 1143) in 1104 — 2 children together
Children
- Alexios Komnenos (1106 – 1142)
- Manuel I Komnenos (1118 – 1180)
Life
- 1088 — Born
- 1104 — Married John
- 1134 — Died